Dawning: Mating Flight
by White Aster
Summary: Starscream flies.  Skywarp chases him.     Set far ahead in Dawningverse, on a partially-restored Cybertron.


_Set veeeeery far ahead in Dawningverse, when the Decepticons have started rebuilding Cybertron and everyone's trickling home. Help, I was assaulted by seekers with bunnies._

::blah:: = internal comms  
><em>blah<em> = glyphs. Mostly.

-

"We're not at war anymore."

Starscream didn't look up from his datapad. "So good you've been keeping up with current events, Skywarp. Do you have a point?"

A dark hand covered the datapad, shoving it down onto the desk. "Yes."

Starscream's snap of annoyance died at the rumbling subharmonics in his wingmate's voice, at the heavy thrum of dominance-hunger-possession that washed through his field, so much more focused, more determined than the usual carefree lust.

Starscream looked up. Skywarp was running hot, primed for flight or battle, wings hitched high. He fairly vibrated with aggressive purpose, and if Starscream didn't know better, he would have thought this a dominance challenge. (Which it was. Of a sort.) But he knew better. He recognized the stance, the tenor of his wingmate's field. He'd seen it before, defused and deflected it before. War was no time for such things.

Now, though... He was surprised that Skywarp had waited this long, honestly.

Starscream let go of the datapad, straightening and clearing his chair, optics on his trinemate as if he were an enemy. He stepped to the side, toward the window, and sharp optics followed him. He raised his helm, staring back in challenge. "Something to say, Skywarp?"

Skywarp's field rippled with excitement and a strange exultation, his response not in spoken words but in glyphs older than either of them, seeker-inflected, part offer, part challenge. _You are my mate._

Starscream smiled. "Prove it." And leapt.

They were in the Air Command's headquarters. The Constructicons had based it upon traditional seeker designs, complete with plenty of direct-to-air access. In the Air Commander's office, for instance, the window featured a conditional forcefield rather than a more material barrier. Said forcefield could be keyed to the ident signals every mech constantly transmitted. Of course, the Air Commander's trine had been given access immediately after the Air Commander himself.

Which was how and why Starscream could fling himself backwards out his window and how his Third could be not half a ventilation behind him, the two of them transforming and pulling hard against gravity to climb into the darkening sky. They cleared the restored areas in less time than it took to get them to maximum speed. Starscream pulled away immediately, his pursuer making up the difference with short bursts of teleportation. Starscream dodged a particularly close pass with a nullray shot and a rolling bank, Skywarp's laughter and a teasing tractor beam playing over his sensors. ::It will take more than that to catch me,:: Starscream taunted, engines pushing hard toward one of his favorite sections of ruins.

Skywarp's growl was accompanied by glyphs for determination, pursuit, capture.

Starscream laughed and dove.

This part of the city had been majestic, once, with tall, graceful buildings climbing to the sky. Now it was best-used as an aerial obstacle course, a seeker's playground. Starscream looped around a tall, thin spike of ruin and plunged into the lower levels of walkways and collapsed walls. He was the faster, more maneuverable of the two, and his lead grew with each turn. Skywarp trailed him doggedly, warping when he could get a good line of sight, but even then he was no match for Starscream's speed.

Starscream, after a full breem with no sight of his wingmate, sighed. It wasn't as if the point of this was to actually get AWAY, after all. Not now. Not this time. Still, it wasn't as if Skywarp-

His processor thread derailed as three things happened nearly at once. First, he broke out into an open area, an old plaza of some sort. Second, his sensors pinged him that his pursuer was high above him, high above the city-_(slag, he let me fly while he pulled up to get a good line of-)_ and third, with a crack of air displacement, his wingmate was suddenly ON him, grappling in mechform. Starscream bit back an un-commander-like screech of surprise as Skywarp CLUNG to his wings, weight and extra thrusters fouling his aerodynamics and sending them spinning hard enough to make their frames creak and warnings stutter across his HUD.

Skywarp's flare of triumph was unconcerned. ::Mine.::

::GLITCH!:: Starscream cursed, loudly and passionately, transforming in Skywarp's grip in an effort to take control of their spin and get his weapons pointed in a helpful direction. Preferably at his wingmate's glitch-ridden PROCESSOR. He succeeded in the former but not the latter, Sky seemingly happy to let Starscream control their fall so long as he controlled his trineleader's arms. He clung to Starscream's back like a spaceleech, metal screeching as he fought Starscream's attempts to twist free.

So Starscream let them tumble one more time before letting Skywarp absorb the brunt of the impact when they hit the building.

A carryover from ancient days, the rules of this kind of chase were simple: the pursued fled, and the pursuer chased. The pursued was free to express their pleasure or displeasure at being chased in whatever way they wanted. Flirting. Letting a less-skilled pursuer catch up. The truly uninterested would refuse to run at all. The victims of persistent, unwanted attentions were perfectly justified in expressing their displeasure with claws and weaponsfire.

Skywarp's pursuit was persistent, though not unwanted. Starscream, however, was not one to roll over and let anyone just claim him without a fight. Any seeker who couldn't outrun, outmaneuver, outsmart, or outfight him in such a simple chase, even a skilled and trusted trinemate, was not worth his time.

So the Decepticon Air Commander pushed both thrusters perpendicular to their bodies and sent them crashing into a building. It wasn't much of a building anymore, the walls riddled by acid rain and past weapons fire, but it was enough to make even Skywarp grunt as they flew through the outer wall and skidded across the remnants of the top floor. Both of them froze for a klik, sensors alert for any sign that the remaining roof was going to come down on their helms. When it did nothing of the sort, Starscream twisted out of Skywarp's grip, thrusters firing as he scrambled straight up toward the hole in the ceiling, trying to regain the sky. Skywarp's claws scrabbled against his plating, hooking on but not with enough purchase to hold him. Starscream hissed at the rake of claws but pushed harder, pulling free with a triumphant cry. If he could just get up high enough, get enough distance... Skywarp had to be running low from all the teleporting he'd been doing. He could, Starscream thought, tire his pursuer out and start his OWN pursuit, chase the irritating glitch into the GROUND...

Just as he cleared the building, just before he could transform, the air exploded behind him, close enough to feel the burst of air displacement on his plating as Skywarp teleported practically around him, arms locked around him from behind, legs locked with his own. Skywarp's hold was tight, holding their torsos flush and so tight that Starscream couldn't transform without risking seriously hurting either of them. Starscream hissed and cursed but couldn't argue with the glyphs of self-congratulation that flickered through Skywarp's field. Teleportation that precise, around a living, moving target, was difficult. ::Show off.::

::Mine,:: Skywarp said, his thrusters paralleling Starscream's, pushing them higher. _You are my mate._

Starscream slammed his elbow back but was at the wrong angle to get anything more vulnerable than Skywarp's chestplate.

Skywarp ignored it, leaning in closer until his helm tucked under Starscream's chin, mouth flickering along a scratch to his collar faring that Starscream hadn't even been registering. _Mine to chase. Mine to catch._ He stroked the scratch with his glossa, licking at the sluggish trail of energon that Starscream's nanorepair had already mostly stilled. The sting was nothing compared to the other dents and scratches, but Starscream's spark still flared, charged and aching.

Below them, Cybertron fell away as they fought gravity together.

Pressed together as they were, Starscream could feel Skywarp's power plant, the growl thrumming through his own internals, almost in sync with his own. The field wrapped around him was a hot torrent of excitement and desire shot through with warm admiration.

::Beautiful mate,:: Skywarp murmured, glossa finding a seam and stroking along it with obvious intent. ::Fierce and smart and strong. You could rip me apart if I gave you half a chance. Primus, you're beautiful.::

Starscream dug fingers into the joints of Skywarp's arms, pressing in such a way that it could be pleasure or pain. He felt more than heard the rattle of Skywarp's plating as he shivered and groaned, _Mine to touch._One servo loosed from its hold around Starscream's torso, stroking hard against seams warmed and tight from flight. _Mine to sate._ His field flooded with spark charge, and Starscream cried out, claws digging into plating not to injure but to KEEP HIM THERE, his own spark pulsing in answer, reaching for connection, and it was NOT ENOUGH. He abandoned any pretence at fleeing, pushing away but turning, grabbing and yanking Skywarp close, thrusters cutting out as he laid himself against Skywarp's chestplates, their sparks beating frantically with a bare, maddening handspan between them.

_Mine,_ Skywarp's helm leaned into Starscream's, his own thrusters cutting out, their ascent slowing in the upper atmosphere. _No other's._

::Finish it,:: Starscream gritted out, claws scrabbling in .

_Mine to fly with until the skies fall,_ Skywarp groaned, field flickering with delirious urgency. _Until our sparks fade. MY mate._ ::Oh Primus, Star, say yes...::

::YES. Yes, you stubborn, ridiculous GLITCH.:: Starscream's field flared, hard, and Skywarp's helm lolled forward in pleasure. Starscream growled as they started to fall. _You are MY mate-_

::Yes...::

_-Mine to chase. Mine to catch-_

::Oh Primus yes...::

Starscream growled, servos digging hard into flight-warmed plating, spark flaring wildly through his field, through Skywarp's, and his wingmate's, his trinemate's, his MATE's spark flared back, reaching, beyond the possession of the bonds they spoke, beyond the impermanence of words. _Mine to touch. MIne to sate-_

Skywarp's response was nonverbal, his entire frame arching into Starscream's hands and chest. Starscream rewarded him with a hard pulse of spark energy that shot pleasure straight through both of them. Skywarp returned the push, containment field weakening, spark expanding, and Starscream loosed his own energies, stroking the very edges of Skywarp's corona, teetering them both on the edge of a true merge. _Mine. No other's._

Skywarp froze, trembling, incapable of speech beyond simple, repeated glyphs for _yes-yes-yes_. Starscream nuzzled against his chestplates, practically able to TASTE the spark beneath them. Strong. Stubborn. Loyal. He offlined his optics, concentrating on the rush of wind against their plating as they fell and the bright, happy spark beneath him. _Mine to fly with until the skies fall and our sparks fade. My mate._

::YES!:: Skywarp's field surged with delirious acceptance, his spark reaching and finding Starscream's reaching back.

They fell together for mechanomiles, sparks entwined in joy, and when thrusters engaged to slow them, all fired as one, settling them on shaky feet on the broken ground.

Their sparks, with one last, wordless caress, receded back into their fields. They clung to each other at the separation, and Starscream fell back into his own sensors to Skywarp's servos playing idly and not unpleasantly under the plating at his waist. His spark still resonated enough with Skywarp's to catch flickers of intent involving servos and glossas and Starscream's frame bowing in overload. "Not here," Starscream murmured into Skywarp's audial, having to concentrate on unlocking his servos from Skywarp's frame. He huffed at Skywarp's flash of disappointment. "Impatient glitch."

Skywarp nuzzled his mate's helm as they pulled, reluctantly, apart. "Permission to have the rest of the shift off, Air Commander?"

Starscream's field flushed with lazy amusement. "Justification, Second-In-Flight?"

"Need to take my mate home and overload him 'til he can't find the sky."

"Hah!" Starscream leapt into the air, transforming. ::Permission granted. And I will HOLD you to that, Second::

Skywarp laughed and joined him, tossing back an acknowledgment glyph as their thrusters fired for home. _Mission accepted._


End file.
